Simon Belmont is Castlevania's most iconic hero and a mid-chain character in the Ode to Castlevania unlock cascade. This guide covers the full 5-character unlock chain from Leon through Christopher, Simon's unique Growth-scaling passive that doubles Wind Whip damage, the Spirit Tornado Tip evolution that automatically farms XP gems, and the Juste Belmont cascade unlock.
Simon is mid-way through the Belmont cascade. You need four prerequisite characters unlocked before you can trigger Simon's unlock. The full chain is cosmetically faithful to Castlevania canon: each Belmont descendant unlocks the next.
| Step | Character | Unlock Condition | Canon Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leon Belmont | Open the first coffin east of Ode to Castlevania spawn | Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (founder of the Belmont line) |
| 2 | Trevor Belmont | Defeat the Giant Medusa Head boss as Leon | Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse |
| 3 | Alucard | Defeat the Doppelganger boss as Trevor | Castlevania III + Symphony of the Night |
| 4 | Christopher Belmont | Evolve the Alucart Sworb (max Alucart + all 6 weapon slots filled) | Castlevania: The Adventure |
| 5 | Simon Belmont | Evolve the Jet Black Whip into Mormegil Tip (Stone Mask) | The original Castlevania (1986) |
Cast peterdante in the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane (Secrets menu) to unlock Simon instantly. This bypasses the entire 5-character cascade. The spell references Peter Dante, the originally intended name for Simon Belmont during Castlevania's early localization phase before the Belmont family naming convention was finalized.
Simon's direct unlock trigger is the Jet Black Whip evolution, not unlocking Christopher himself. If you have Jet Black Whip in your weapon pool from surviving 14 minutes as Christopher, ANY character can trigger the evolution. This is why the Forbidden Scrolls spell feels like a shortcut: you're skipping the cascade entirely rather than just the final step.
Simon's signature passive is one of the most unique scaling systems in Vampire Survivors. On every enemy hit, the game rolls two independent 50% chances that turn Growth into damage and defense.
Growth is normally a stat that only accelerates XP gain from gems. For Simon, it becomes a dual-purpose stat that directly scales damage AND survivability. Every point of Growth Simon stacks has three effects:
| Growth Effect | Baseline Impact | Simon Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| Faster leveling | Reach higher levels in less time | Same as other characters |
| On-hit Might boost | No effect | Must have 50% of hits gain +Growth to Might |
| On-hit Armor multiplier | No effect | Must have 50% of hits multiply Armor by Growth |
| Wind Whip damage | No scaling on most whips | Must have Direct damage scaling on starting weapon |
Most characters waste their first two passive slots on combat stats like Might or Area. Simon can use them for Candelabrador (Growth %) and Empty Tome (Cooldown), maximizing his Growth compound loop while still covering core damage via the Wind Whip's built-in scaling.
The Wind Whip is Simon's starting weapon. It is a fast slashing whip with a unique mechanic: damage scales with Growth, making it the only whip in the game that rewards XP stat stacking for DPS.
Surviving 12 minutes with Simon unlocks the Wind Whip for the general weapon pool, making it available for other characters through level-up drops.
Spirit Tornado Tip is one of the best XP-farm evolutions in the game. It keeps the Wind Whip's fast slashing attacks and adds a hidden Summon Spirit Tornado proc that dashes around the screen collecting XP gems for Simon.
This is why Spirit Tornado Tip is the Wind Whip evolution nobody skips:
The gem explosions deal damage proportional to the gems' size. On stages like Cappella Magna or Boss Rash where large gems spawn regularly, Spirit Tornado Tip explosions hit for significant AoE damage on top of the XP acceleration. This makes Simon a dual-purpose DPS + level-farm character.
Evolving the Wind Whip into Spirit Tornado Tip automatically unlocks Juste Belmont (Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance protagonist). Juste starts with the Vibhuti Whip, which evolves into Daybreaker Tip via Candelabrador. Evolving Juste's Vibhuti Whip in turn unlocks Maxim Kischine, making Simon's run a gateway to two additional Castlevania characters.
| Stage | Rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Moongolow | S-tier | Crown spawns as stage item for fast Spirit Tornado Tip evolution. High enemy density fuels Simon's on-hit RNG passive rolls. |
| Gallo Tower | S-tier | Crown available. Tight arena maximizes Wind Whip's horizontal slash coverage. Constant enemy contact stacks more on-hit Growth rolls. |
| Dairy Plant | A-tier | Every chest evolves a weapon, letting Simon layer Spirit Tornado Tip with a second evolution quickly. |
| Cappella Magna | A-tier | Large gem spawns make Spirit Tornado Tip's gem-explosion effect punishing. Perfect for XP farming loops. |
| Ode to Castlevania | B-tier | Thematic home stage with Wall Chicken pickups. Needed for the Belmont cascade progression. |
| Arcana | Priority | Why It Works |
|---|---|---|
 Wicked Season (XIII) | Must have | Growth scales Wind Whip damage AND doubles it at Growth intervals. Direct multiplier for Simon's primary damage source. |
 Crystal Cries (XII) | Must have | Growth increases Wind Whip damage. Stacks with Wicked Season for compound Growth-damage scaling. The canonical Simon arcana pair. |
 Slash (XVI) | High | Adds 4x crit damage at 20% base chance. Wind Whip gains crit capability. Multiplies with Growth-scaled damage. |
 Divine Bloodline (IX) | Medium | Damage scales off HP delta. Simon's +20 Max Health gives him more delta room, and his Armor-multiplying passive keeps him alive longer to stay in low-HP range. |
| Item | Priority | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
 Crown | Must have | Required for Spirit Tornado Tip evolution. Also boosts Growth, which scales Wind Whip damage and fuels Simon's on-hit Growth rolls. Triple utility. |
 Candelabrador | High | Area + Growth scaling. Double-buffs Simon's whip coverage AND his passive rolls. |
 Hollow Heart | High | Doubles Max Health. Stacks with Simon's +20 Max Health start for a massive HP pool that survives Divine Bloodline delta builds. |
 Tirajisù | High | +2 Revivals stacks with Simon's +1 Revival start. With Tirajisù + Revival PowerUp + Awake arcana, Simon can reach 7+ revives in a single run. |
 Empty Tome | Medium | Reduces Wind Whip's 1.55s cooldown. More swings means more on-hit passive rolls per minute. |
A focused Simon run produces massive value: you evolve Spirit Tornado Tip to unlock Juste Belmont, then continue leveling to spawn high-tier XP gems for further arcana access. On Moongolow, one Simon run can evolve 2-3 weapons simultaneously if you have additional passives, stacking multiple cascade unlocks.
Simon Belmont is the most iconic character in the Castlevania franchise and a playable character from the Ode to Castlevania DLC. He is the star of the original 1986 Castlevania, Vampire Killer, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Super Castlevania IV, and Castlevania Chronicles. In Vampire Survivors, he sits mid-way through the Belmont cascade chain, requiring Christopher Belmont's Jet Black Whip evolution to unlock.
Evolve the Jet Black Whip into Mormegil Tip. The Jet Black Whip is Christopher Belmont's starting weapon, so you must unlock Christopher first. This requires completing the full Belmont cascade: Leon Belmont (first coffin) → Trevor Belmont (defeat Giant Medusa Head as Leon) → Alucard (defeat Doppelganger as Trevor) → Christopher Belmont (evolve Alucart Sworb as Alucard) → Simon Belmont (evolve Jet Black Whip as Christopher). Alternatively, cast peterdante in the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane.
The unlock spell peterdante references Peter Dante, the originally intended name for Simon Belmont during early Castlevania localization. Before finalizing "Simon Belmont," Konami considered several Western-sounding names for the protagonist. Peter Dante was the leading candidate before the Belmont family naming convention took over. This is pure developer trivia that shows up as the cheat code nod.
The complete chain from the Ode to Castlevania opening: Leon Belmont (open the first coffin east of spawn) → Trevor Belmont (defeat the Giant Medusa Head boss as Leon) → Alucard (defeat the Doppelganger boss as Trevor) → Christopher Belmont (evolve the Alucart Sworb as Alucard) → Simon Belmont (evolve Christopher's Jet Black Whip into Mormegil Tip via Stone Mask) → Juste Belmont (evolve Simon's Wind Whip into Spirit Tornado Tip via Crown). This is the canonical Castlevania family lineage applied to unlock progression.
Simon has an on-hit 50% chance of either adding his Growth stat to his Might OR multiplying his Armor. These rolls are independent and checked on every hit, so at any given moment Simon can have both, one, or neither bonus active. This means Growth stacking doubles as both damage scaling and defensive scaling through Simon's passive RNG. He also starts with +1 Revival and finds Castlevania pickups like Wall Chicken.
Simon has the unique feature that both his Wind Whip damage AND his on-hit passive scale with Growth. Growth is normally a stat that only accelerates XP, but Simon turns it into a full DPS multiplier. Stack Growth through Crystal Cries (XII) and Wicked Season (XIII) arcanas, Candelabrador, and stage items for compound scaling. At high Growth, Simon's Wind Whip rivals dedicated damage characters.
The Wind Whip is Simon's starting weapon. It creates a slash in front of Simon and covers below him as well (the height of spawn is randomized). The weapon comes out faster than the vanilla Whip and at max level swings significantly faster with a small cooldown between attacks. Critically, Wind Whip damage is affected by Growth (unique among whips). It ignores Speed and Duration in base form, though these stats affect the evolved Spirit Tornado Tip.
Level the Wind Whip to level 8 (maximum), then pick up the Crown passive item (any level works). Open any treasure chest after 10 minutes. The Wind Whip evolves into Spirit Tornado Tip. This also unlocks Juste Belmont as a cascade reward. Crown spawns as a stage item on Moongolow and Gallo Tower for fast pickup.
Spirit Tornado Tip keeps Wind Whip's base function (fast slashing whip) and adds a massive feature: every 7th activation summons a hidden Summon Spirit Tornado. Spirits dash around the screen, collecting XP gems for Simon automatically and flinging them back with a sparkling trail. The gems also explode in a radius on collection, dealing AoE damage. Base damage jumps from 10 to 30, Amount goes from 1 to 2, and Area widens to 1.4.
Target the Spirit Tornado Tip evolution by minute 10-12. Stack Growth-boosting items (Candelabrador, Growth PowerUp) to amplify both Wind Whip damage AND Simon's on-hit Might passive. Take Crystal Cries (XII) and Wicked Season (XIII) arcanas to multiply Growth returns. Pair with Tirajisù for extra Revivals (Simon starts with +1 Revival). Use Spirit Tornado Tip's gem-collection bursts to accelerate level scaling for more Growth compounding.
Yes. Evolving Simon's Wind Whip into Spirit Tornado Tip automatically unlocks Juste Belmont, who wields the Vibhuti Whip. Juste's cascade in turn unlocks Maxim Kischine (via Vibhuti Whip evolution into Daybreaker Tip). So one Simon run can effectively unlock two more Belmont-family characters in sequence.
Image sprites and screenshots sourced from the Vampire Survivors Wiki (vampire.survivors.wiki) under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.